''Pampa Ilusión'' is a

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

telenovela A telenovela is a type of a television serial drama or soap opera produced primarily in Latin America. The word combines ''tele'' (for "television") and ''novela'' (meaning "novel"). Similar Drama (film and television), drama genres around the w ...

produced by TVN. It was written by Víctor Carrasco, Larissa Contreras, María José Galleguillos and Alexis Moreno, and directed by Vicente Sabatini. It is considered part of the so-called Golden Age of Chilean telenovelas. Set in the desolate interior of the

Atacama Desert The Atacama Desert () is a desert plateau located on the Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast of South America, in the north of Chile. Stretching over a strip of land west of the Andes Mountains, it covers an area of , which increases to if the barre ...

in 1934, and filmed on location in the Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works, it classifies both as a

historical romance Historical romance is a broad category of mass-market fiction focusing on romantic relationships in historical periods, which Lord Byron, Byron helped popularize in the early 19th century. The genre often takes the form of the novel. Varieties ...

and a

working-class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

melodrama A melodrama is a Drama, dramatic work in which plot, typically sensationalized for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodrama is "an exaggerated version of drama". Melodramas typically concentrate on ...

dealing with

tyranny A tyrant (), in the modern English language, English usage of the word, is an autocracy, absolute ruler who is unrestrained by law, or one who has usurper, usurped a legitimate ruler's sovereignty. Often portrayed as cruel, tyrants may defen ...

classism Class discrimination, also known as classism, is prejudice or discrimination on the basis of social class. It includes individual attitudes, behaviors, systems of policies and practices that are set up to benefit the upper class at the expense of ...

and

misogyny Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against Woman, women or girls. It is a form of sexism that can keep women at a lower social status than Man, men, thus maintaining the social roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been wide ...

as principal motives, but given the wide array of characters there are substories centering in themes such as innocence, religious hypocrisy, unrequited love,

narcissism Narcissism is a self-centered personality style characterized as having an excessive preoccupation with oneself and one's own needs, often at the expense of others. Narcissism, named after the Greek mythological figure ''Narcissus'', has evolv ...

, betrayal and

prostitution Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, no ...

. The main setting is fictional

company town A company town is a place where all or most of the stores and housing in the town are owned by the same company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schoo ...

whose existence is based entirely on the extraction of

saltpeter Potassium nitrate is a chemical compound with a sharp, salty, bitter taste and the chemical formula . It is a potassium salt of nitric acid. This salt consists of potassium cations and nitrate anions , and is therefore an alkali metal nitrate ...

. The price of saltpeter has declined both due to the effects of the ongoing Great Depression and the invention of synthetic alternatives, and the town faces economic decline and a threat to its existence. The despotic businessman William Clark refuses to accept that his economic prosperity has reached its end, while trying to locate and arrest his estranged daughter. He is searching for a woman, unaware that his daughter is crossdressing and that she uses a male identity in her career as a

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

Plot

The year is 1934. Deep in the

lies Pampa Ilusión, a

dedicated to the extraction of

, a commodity that underwent a massive boom in previous decades, but which has sharply declined in price due to the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

and the recent invention of synthetic alternatives. This has left Pampa Ilusión struggling to remain afloat as one of the few saltpeter works still in operation. The owner of this office is Mr. William Clark ( Héctor Noguera), an English-born, despotic and bed-ridden businessman who refuses to accept the end of his economic prosperity. The daily life and routine in the saltpeter mine is interrupted by the arrival of his daughter Inés ( Claudia di Girolamo), a doctor, banished from the family along with her mother when she was a newborn. She will come to discover the reasons for the exile and humiliation suffered by her mother thirty years before. Alerted of Inés's arrival, Mr. Clark orders the arrest of any unknown women found within the office, which forces Inés to lead a double life: by day she disguises as a man, "Dr. Florencio Aguirre", under which identity she becomes Mr. Clark's personal physician and eventual confidant; and by night she covertly re-takes her true personality as Inés Clark. Under the shadow of William lives Manuel ( Francisco Melo), his son (and, unknowingly, younger brother of Inés), a weak and insecure man that spends his days trying to win the approval of his mentally abusive father and hide from him the near bankruptcy of the business. Then there is José Miguel Inostroza ( Francisco Reyes), Clark's security chief and right-hand man, an exemplary employee who follows Mr. Clark's orders blindly, even if the orders are harmful and abusive to the workers of Pampa Ilusion. His obedience is affected by the arrival of Inés, for whom he falls in love, Forcing him to choose between his loyalty and his principles. Both as "Dr. Aguirre" and herself, Inés gets involved in the daily lives of the workers and management of the mine in the midst of the revolution against her father's oppressive rule, and slowly wins over the loyalty and friendship of the inhabitants both poor and wealthy. Among these are Clara Montes ( Blanca Lewin), A wealthy

socialite A socialite is a person, typically a woman from a wealthy or aristocratic background, who is prominent in high society. A socialite generally spends a significant amount of time attending various fashionable social gatherings, instead of having ...

and

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

and Inés's primary confidant, and Alberto Quispe ( Juan Falcón), Clara's secret lover and a Peruvian miner fighting discrimination against his own.

Cast

Aristocracy

* Héctor Noguera as ''Mr. William Clark''. * Claudia di Girolamo as ''Inés Clark - Dr. Florencio Aguirre''. * Francisco Reyes as ''José Miguel Inostroza''. * Francisco Melo as ''Manuel Clark''. * Delfina Guzmán as ''Mercedes Jorquera''. * Luis Alarcón as ''Emilio Fuenzalida''. * Violeta Vidaurre as ''Amanda Jorquera''. * Eduardo Barril as ''Ángel Montes''. * Marés González as ''Elena Moncada''. * Alfredo Castro as ''Eulogio Martínez''. * Consuelo Holzapfel as ''Asunción Echeñique''. * Francisca Imboden as ''Isidora Fuenzalida''. * Blanca Lewin as ''Clara Montes''. * Antonia Zegers as ''Carmen Montes''. * Álvaro Espinoza as ''Ricardo Fuenzalida''. * Ricardo Fernández as ''Maximiliano Subercaseaux''.

Inhabitants

* Tamara Acosta as ''Clementina Paita''. * Álvaro Morales as ''Melchor López - Gaspar López''. * Juan Falcón as ''Alberto Quispe''. * Amparo Noguera as ''Elisa Pereira''. * Néstor Cantillana as ''Tobías Pincheira''. * Claudia Cabezas as ''María Paita''. * Claudio González as ''Rómulo Verdugo''. * José Soza as ''Ivo Yutronic''. * Luz Jiménez as ''Lourdes Santana''. * Ximena Rivas as ''Julia Méndez''. * Pablo Schwarz as ''Serafin Gálvez''. * Erto Pantoja as ''Aparicio Meza''. * Óscar Hernández as ''Tomás Navarro''. * Carmen Disa Gutiérrez as ''Domitila Faúndez''. * Rodrigo Pérez as ''Arsenio Valle''. * Roxana Campos as ''Laura Fortuna''. * Sergio Hernández as ''Benito Valencia''. * Alessandra Guerzoni as ''Miss Emily Thomas Scott''. * Mauricio Inzunza as ''Carlos González''. * Daniela Lhorente as ''Libertad Navarro''. * Felipe Ríos as ''Luciano Pereira''. * María José Necochea as ''Esperanza Mardones''. * Eduardo Soto as ''Macario Ortega''. * Mireya Véliz as ''Bristela Monardes''. * Héctor Aguilar as ''Mario Weng''.

External links

Official web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pampa Ilusion 2001 telenovelas 2001 Chilean television series debuts 2001 Chilean television series endings Television series set in 1934 Televisión Nacional de Chile telenovelas Spanish-language telenovelas Television shows set in deserts Atacama Desert Television shows set in Chile Mass media portrayals of the working class Great Depression television series Fiction about father–daughter relationships Cross-dressing in television